While I think that Zurich is the best place in the world, I also like to see the rest of the world. My voyages are sometimes linked to my passion of dance (Oriental dance, Bollywood dance, tango)I write about it on my blog:http://meissoun.blogspot.ch

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When I wrote about downsizing make-up it turned out to be a longer text than I
expected, so I decided to write a seperate text about all my creams, lotions etc. and how I get them ready for traveling.

First of all, I found a great supplier on ebay and ordered various empty containers from them. The lip balm containers are featured in my text about make-up. You might
have noticed that I prefer tubes to bottles - they are much more efficient for
small quantities, especially when you want to squeeze out the leftovers. And tubes just take up less space!

I have been able to cut in half the space that I
need in my toiletry bag and can now put more things into it which before required
an extra bag.Also, if you want to travel carry-on only you simply can't bring original sized toiletries due to the security regulations.

This is how much space I saved in the end - and probably more: The bag on the right now stays at home!

The main
question here is: How much product do you REALLY need for you t…

The monthly gatherings of the Gesellschaft zu Fraumünster often take us to special places and let us experience things that you would not normally be able to see. Thanks to good connections we were invited to this special evening at the NOERD house in the north of Zurich - with not one but 3 guided tours through different parts of the building.

Starting with an apéro on the roof terrace.

I had a little walk around and found this urban landscape.
One of our guides: Markus Freitag, one of the two brothers who founded the FREITAG company, makers of bags from recycled truck tarps. Of course I wore one of my bags for the occasion since I am a big fan!
We were divided into 3 groups, and my group's first tour took us around the rooms of aroma, an agency for 3D communication.
original use of old windows
explaining a project
over to the huge storage hall where all the material is kept
There's a slide down - you can bet that I was the first to go!
Individual window decorations for p…

Starting the day with standard breakfast: a warm croissant filled with jam and a juice for me, any kind of pastry and a capuccino for Olivier. Preferably eaten outside. This is the little street we are currently residing in. It has the typical houses of this region. Many only have one level but high ceilings. On the road again... by September the landscape is rather dry. Want to buy yourself a little palazzo? This one might be for sale. We chose the opposite coast of yesterday for this day's excursion, the Ionic sea instead of the Adriatic one. Since our holiday home is right in the middle, both are about equally far away. Hello seagull in the port of Gallipoli! Climbing a wall just to pose for a picture. It was still morning but the sun was already very strong. The old town of Gallipoli is actually an island, connection with a short bridge. It's surrounded by a city wall that we stolled along. There even is a little beach. Of course there is an over abundance of churches. We only we…

Since our limited budget only allowed for a cheap hotel that didn't even have a breakfast room, we had to go somewhere else - my friend really needs her coffee fix in the morning!
There's a cozy little cafe just around the corner where they make a hot chocolate so thick that your spoon will practically stand upright in it!
We only really had one thing planned for the day - but while walking there we accidentally found the Corso de Buenos Aires which turned out to be a major shopping street of Milan. Ah, the temptation! Contrary to the designer stores we had visited before, there were a lot of affordable shops around here, where we actually COULD buy stuff even if we hadn't planned to, like glitter socks or cheap cosmetics...
Very cool mix-and-match bags - we were good girls and only bought some flowery rubber bangles here...
Natural history museum - a very nice building and maybe a goal for a future visit.
Finally we got back to the expensive shops that were so out of our…

After my four days in San Diego it was time to move on.
On Friday I rented a car and drove up to Orange County.

Things started quite lovely.

But oh, the crazy traffic on the freeways of California...
I also spotted a vanity plate of a Bollywood fan! (Tere Naam is an Indian film from the year 2003)
Cars, cars, cars... and might I say, the quality of the road is rather crappy.
My host in Costa Mesa was Lilla. She showed me around the area and at night we went for dinner in a huge restaurant that had an acutal stage. There was enough room for an entire group of dancers!

View from the guest room I was staying at. See why this is called "Orange" County?
Getting ready for the workshop I was teaching there on Saturday.
I had to adjust to "Californian time". Meaning that people here are not very punctual. They were still coming in after the workshop had started... Other than that it went really well.
Afterwards I hopped into my car and drove up to Los Angeles. Thanks to t…

Just in time for my birthday the rain finally stopped! Ironically this was also the day I had planned to spend mostly sitting inside... But don't let the glimpses of blue sky fool you, the wind was still icy cold!
Going for my first appointment in Cihangir, past colorful ruins.
This is where you can find all the antiques shops.
Road construction on my way.
There had been a small misunderstanding with my appointment but right next door was this plant shop / café where I waited and had a nice brownie. Check it out: Müz

No shop here is complete without the visit of a friendly neighborhood cat. These cats don't belong to anybody in particular, they just make their rounds, it seems.
The tattoo artist Resul Odabas finally arrived and after a short discussion decided that he could squeeze me in before the next customer because my tattoo wouldn't take too long.
Here he is working on my ankle. It hurt just a bit, actually less than I had expected. But halfway through I needed to p…

I had lost counts of how many times exactly I was there, so I went digging in my photo albums and started listing up every trip and who I went with. There are links to the respective blog entries, if you like to check them out (if there are several per trip, the blog lists them in reverse chronological order, so start on the bottom).

Some were weeklong trips, others just a few days. But every time I go there, it's a good time!

An Easter holiday is an excellent opportunity to hop on the bicycle and go looking for flowers around town.Wisteria time!

Crossing the Sihl river with one lone fisherman in it. Over to Schanzengraben, the small river around the old city fortification walls. On top of it is the old botanical garden. More water, this time going up into the air, with the opera house in the background. More wisteria above the Stadelhofen train station This was one of my main goals, the villa Patumbah. Unfortunately the flowers here were not as ready yet as I had hoped, I was about a week too early. But there are flowers on the building. The pretty pavillon. We had used this park for a dance photo shoot in May, a few years ago. On my way down to the lake I passed by this mountain of flowers with matching cars in the background. Fresh yellow There we four people in Easter bunny costumes on motorbikes - I was able to catch two of them. So many colors down by the lake! Flower hunt would not be complete without a pictur…

So yes, I made a lot of plans for this trip, but sometimes you have to be flexible.
On Sunday I wanted to walk around Kadiköy on the Asian side with a friend who lives close to there.
But the traffic was pretty crazy and the rain got worse during our drive, so there really wasn't a point in strolling along the shore in cold, wet weather with the view hidden by clouds. Put it on the list for next time...
Instead we turned around, crossed the big bridge over the Bosphorus and went for Karaköy, one of my favorite parts of Istanbul. Walking around the small streets was OK and for once these umbrellas really made sense!
We had a late lunch and chatted for a while, then walked on.
Karaköy is street art central! There are more photos of graffiti in my previous posts about this neighborhood.
Man, was I glad about my raincoat!
We had another stop for dessert and more chatting - a rainy afternoon is best spent in good company, so you don't mind the weather too much.
Culture spot for to…